Apparatus and methods for growing films of complex layered metal oxides with high stoichiometries and high crystal qualities are provided. The layered complex metal oxides include two or more metals and oxygen and have a layered structure. The methods, which are referred to as hybrid pulsed laser deposition (hybrid PLD), synergistically combine the advantages of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to grow complex metal oxide films that include metals with very different vapor pressures.